Sunday, 23 October 2011

Bottom of the class

Last Thursday in our post we had one
of those invitations from RMG to attend the sorting office to collect - and pay
for - an item whose sender had not paid the postage.

My practice manager called in there
first thing Friday armed with £1.36, being the unpaid postage plus £1 “handling
fee”. She was given a standard envelope (with one page of A4 inside) sent to us
by a firm of solicitors in Surrey.

The envelope is franked with 39p
(sic) postage.I don’t know why it is
three pence more than it should have been, but it's a nice adornment to
the story.

So, why are we being charged £1.36 - and having to collect the letter?

The answer is that it is franked on the back.

That is somehow invalid and entitles
RMG to receive a total, from us and the original sender, of £1.75 not to
deliver a one-page of A4.

Another real bonus is that according
to the detail franked on its backside, this envelope left Woking on 4 October, thus
taking sixteen days to reach Somerset.

What “class” is that?

The key point (which I shall urge on
those who sent us this communication) is that it makes no sense to use and
perpetuate the existence of this abysmal service rather than using e-mail - or
fax if you must.